Ruger Outback?

[timsclips]

I purchased one of these from an ebay auction, then trying to find out when it was produced I went through most, but not all, the Schrade catalogs posted on line and could not find it listed. Was this a cataloged item or are these made up after 2004 to move Outbacks?

 

[Codger_64]

Quite a few of these showed up on eBay after the October 2004 auction. To me this suggests there were many in inventory when Schrade was stopped from shipping in July of 2004. Possibly it was a custom shielded order made for Sturm Ruger (or a merchant with a Ruger trademark license), perhaps nearly ready for bulk shipment when bankruptcy was filed. I'd say that they were genuine, not a cataloged item, possibly never shipped to the buyer. A collection of the Outbacks with their various custom shielding and etches is interesting. I own several of them myself. Some had custom tagged sheaths, some none at all. I don't recall seeing a Ruger tagged sheath. Maybe the order was being held for the matching sheaths?

As always, "Schrade...more questions than answers!"

Michael

 

[Codger_64]

According to the info presented by Larry in this thread...the original order for 500 Ruger Outbacks was completed in 2001, and they did indeed ship with plain sheaths. Most likely then, a quantity of knives with empty shield cavities was present in July 2004, and the small work force kept on by the bankruptcy court inserted whatever leftover coined shields were on hand in order to finish them to fluff up the inventory of finished knives for auction. As they were made by Schrade employees in the Ellenville factory prior to the auction, IMHO, they are genuine Schrades in spite of the fact that they were (A) not comissioned by Ruger, (B) completed from unfinished knives and stocks of shields in inventory between July and October 2004.

Michael